Vietnamese Whirl Part 11– The Long Road South

Deciding that “road” was better than “rail” in this instance, partly due to the inconvenient train timings (overnight trains DEFINITELY did not appeal), we took a taxi down the coast to Sam Roi Yot.  Finding that the resorts became distinctly less “touristy” as we headed southwards, we were pleased to check in to our quiet little beachfront hotel …and yes!..there was actually a BEACH…

In fact, they were in the process of setting up a night market on the beach as we wandered down the cycle lane (why?? Just why??) which was full of parked scooters and cars, along the seafront. Despite the prevalence of Thai tourists, we did discover a bar run by a German motorbike and rock music enthusiast, where we enjoyed a bevvy or two overlooking the beach.

We had already visited the main attractions along this stretch of coast a couple of years ago, when we travelled up from Southern Thailand back to Bangkok by train.  We’d visited the wild elephants at the Kui Buri Park, and Phraya Nakhon cave (amazing, but lots of steps!), so we settled in for a few more days of “chillaxing” by the pool.

Our morning walks were along the beach and through the maze of palm plantations, where cattle grazed serenely under the shade, overlooked by huge mountain ranges in the distance. Borrowing a free bicycle from the hotel, I explored the local area and found a Seven Eleven and a great little nail salon.  However, the well intentioned beachside “bike lane” sadly ran out after about a mile, being overgrown by plants and sand, and eventually collapsing into the sea!

I did follow a “walk” on my app one morning, cycling it as far as I could, only to get hopelessly lost, startling a cow or possibly a bull (well it had horns anyway) and scaring the bejesus out of myself!  Thankfully, it was more scared of me than I was of it, I made a hasty retreat and finally made it back on route.

Apart from the weekend night market this place offered a perfect, relaxing retreat, with enough eateries but no crowds, and very few foreign tourists.

Continuing our route down the coast our next stop was a fairly remote outpost of the small fishing town of Bang Saphan.  There are actually two Bang Saphan’s; Bangsaphan Noi and Bangsaphan Yai (meaning big and small when translated from Thai) – and we were at the outskirts of the small one! Taking a turn of the main road with its copious fish farms, our taxi took us through lush palm plantations to the coast, and a small port full of squid boats.  This felt like the real Thailand, and I had to check we’d arrived at the correct place, as all the signs were in Thai!

Google Translate came to the fore, as we were shown to our large and modern room in this fairly newly built hotel.  It was missing a pool, but the sea was literally a few steps away.  It was also a very strange shade of green – that we discovered was due to a plankton bloom, which happens occasionally along this coast.

This almost scuppered our plans to visit the nearby island of Koh Talu, where we enjoyed a snorkelling trip on our last stay along this coast. Disappointed, but determined to enjoy a few days of tranquillity in this secluded spot, we took walks along the seemingly endless stretch of beach – accompanied by the hotel’s resident dog (who we nicknamed “George”).

A few more guests arrived at the weekend, and there were a few small family run cafes and restaurants within easy walking distance clearly catering for their mainly Thai clientele, but the place remained pretty serene and relaxed.

On our last day, the sea finally turned a more normal shade of blue, and we managed to pick up a boat tour to Koh Talu from the local pier. Named after a natural rock arch weathered into the red rocks of the island’s cliffs, the island is surrounded by shallow coral reefs teeming with colourful fish.  The remnants of the plankton did make visibility a bit shady in places but our captain took us to several spots to admire the underwater life.  The island housed a resort, which claimed most of the beaches as their own, but I did sneak ashore to coo over the baby turtles at the resident turtle hatchery and conservation centre.

Ready for a bit more action, we set off the next morning for a longer hop down the coast to one of our favourite parts of Thailand…Krabi.

Next Stop:  Familiar territory